Requesting Repairs in New York Rentals

To get a repair made in a New York rental, tell the landlord or super first, in writing if you can, and if the problem is not fixed, report it to code enforcement: 311 in New York City, which routes complaints to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), or your city, town, or village code office elsewhere. Heat and hot water have fixed minimums in New York City: from October 1 through May 31, at least 68°F indoors from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. when it is below 55°F outside and at least 62°F overnight, plus hot water of at least 120°F every day of the year. If the landlord still does not act, you can ask Housing Court to order repairs in an HP action or ask a court to reduce your rent under the warranty of habitability.

What heat and hot water must a New York City landlord provide?

HPD sets out these minimums:

The Attorney General's tenant guide notes one hot water exception: a tub or shower with an anti-scald valve that stops the water from going above 120°F has to reach only 110°F. HPD treats a heat or hot water failure as an immediately hazardous (Class C) violation that the owner must correct immediately.

While you wait for a repair, HPD warns never to heat your home with a gas stove or charcoal grill. Kerosene and propane space heaters are illegal in the city, and an electric space heater should be plugged straight into a wall outlet and never left on unattended. HVAC maintenance for renters covers which heating tasks are yours and which are the landlord's.

How do the rules differ outside New York City?

Outside the city, buildings with three or more apartments fall under the Multiple Residence Law, which covers cities with fewer than 325,000 people and all towns and villages. The 2025 state Property Maintenance Code section 602.3 generally requires landlords obligated to furnish heat to maintain at least 68°F from September 15 through May 31, including overnight, in rentals with one or more units.

The code allows 65°F in areas where the average monthly temperature exceeds 30°F. It also waives the minimum when outdoor temperatures fall below the locality's winter design temperature and the heating system operates at full design capacity.

The Attorney General notes that local rules can require higher temperatures. State Property Maintenance Code section 505.4 requires water-heating facilities capable of supplying adequate water at 110°F or higher at every required sink, bathroom basin, bathtub, shower, and laundry facility. If you rent a one- or two-family house, ask your local code office which heat rule it enforces.

Report problems to your city, town, or village code enforcement office or building department. If that office does not respond, the Attorney General says you can complain to the state Department of State, whose oversight unit investigates local governments that fail to enforce the state building and fire codes. The Department asks you to try the local office first and keep a record of those attempts; reach the unit at (518) 474-4073, option 6.

How do you report a problem in New York City?

If you live in NYCHA public housing, report repairs, including heat and hot water outages, to NYCHA's Customer Contact Center at 718-707-7771, which answers 24 hours a day, or through the MyNYCHA app, and keep the work ticket number. In privately owned buildings, follow these steps:

1. Tell the landlord first. HPD asks tenants to contact the owner or managing agent before filing. Text or email the super or management office so the report is dated, and note when the heat or hot water stopped. Our guide to reporting maintenance issues covers what to include.
2. File with 311. Call 311 (TTY 212-504-4115), use 311ONLINE, or use the 311MOBILE app, and save the service request number. You can file anonymously, but HPD's inspector then picks an apartment at random, so give your unit number if you want your own apartment checked.
3. Log the temperatures. Each time you check, write down the date, the time, the indoor temperature, and the outdoor temperature. HPD issues a heat violation only when the indoor reading is below the minimum during the hours that minimum applies.
4. Expect a call or a visit. HPD tries to reach the owner, may call you to ask whether service is back, and sends an inspector if it is not restored or HPD cannot reach you.

If the owner does not restore service after a violation, HPD's Emergency Repair Program can hire a contractor to restore heat or hot water and bill the owner, once the indoor temperature has dropped below 64°F during the day or 58°F at night. For heat and hot water violations issued since December 8, 2023, HPD's penalty schedule runs $350 to $1,250 per day, or $500 to $1,500 per day for a later violation.

Repairs other than heat and hot water get longer correction periods, from 24 hours for most immediately hazardous conditions to 90 days for non-hazardous ones. Emergency repairs explains which problems count as emergencies and what to do first.

When can you pay for heat or a repair yourself?

The Attorney General's guide describes three situations in which a tenant can pay and take the cost out of rent:

• Heating oil. In an oil-heated building with three or more apartments where the owner is responsible for heat, New York's fuel-oil deduction laws allow tenants to pay for deliveries and deduct payments only with substantial compliance with the statutory conditions. The usable fuel must be exhausted; the statutes' heat-failure trigger is an outdoor temperature below 55°F between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. from October 1 through May 31. If the owner continuously posts contact details for the owner or agent and usual supplier, make reasonable efforts to notify the owner or agent and arrange delivery from that supplier. Use an established supplier charging within the local enforcement agency's published price range. Obtain the supplier's written statement naming who ordered the oil, the delivery date, time and address, oil quantity, grade and price, any burner-restarting charge, and each payer and amount paid. It must also certify that usable fuel was exhausted before delivery; an ordinary receipt alone is insufficient. Local housing officials keep lists of dealers that will deliver in this situation.
• Utility service. When the landlord of such a building falls behind on the utility bill, the utility must give tenants written notice before it shuts off service, and it cannot shut service off if tenants pay the landlord's current bill directly. Tenants can deduct those payments from later rent.
• Urgent repairs. In extenuating circumstances, such as a broken door lock the landlord was told about and willfully ignored, you can hire the repair and deduct a reasonable cost from rent.

In each case, keep the receipts and copies of every notice and message, because the landlord may dispute the deduction.

How do you get a court order or a rent reduction?

HP action (New York City). Tenants in privately owned buildings can start an HP action, a Housing Court case asking a judge to order repairs. At Housing Court you get help preparing an Order to Show Cause, the papers that start the case and set a court date. You can fill out a request for an HPD inspection before that date, and you serve the papers on both the owner and HPD. If violations exist, the judge can order the owner to correct them within a set time, and if the owner misses that deadline, you can return to court to ask for penalties or a finding of contempt.

Rent abatement (statewide). Real Property Law section 235-b makes every residential landlord in New York promise that the home is fit to live in, and the Attorney General counts failing to provide heat or hot water on a regular basis as a breach. If the landlord knew or should have known about the problem, a court can reduce the rent by the difference between your rent and what the apartment was worth without the service, and it does not need an expert witness to set the amount.

Example: your rent is $1,800 a month, and you had no heat for 15 days of a 30-day month. If a judge finds the apartment was worth half its rent during the outage, the abatement is $1,800 x 50% x 15/30 = $450.

You can raise the abatement as a defense and as a counterclaim, your own claim against the landlord in the same case, if the landlord sues you for unpaid rent, or you can sue for it after paying full rent. If you withhold rent, the landlord can sue you for nonpayment, so keep the money in a separate account; can you legally withhold rent? covers that risk, and New York's warranty of habitability explains the standard courts apply.

Rent-regulated apartments. In a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartment, you can also file a complaint with NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR): form HHW-1 for no heat or hot water in your apartment, or RA-84 for a building-wide outage. Apartment heat and hot water complaints can also be filed online through Rent Connect. A heat or hot water complaint must include a report from the city, county, or local agency that found the problem. If HCR orders a rent reduction in a stabilized apartment, the legal rent drops to its level before the most recent guideline increase, and no increase is allowed until HCR restores it.

Retaliation. Real Property Law section 223-b bars a landlord from retaliating against a tenant for a good-faith complaint to the landlord or a government agency about repairs or habitability. If, within one year of the complaint, the landlord refuses to renew your lease, offers a renewal with an unreasonable increase, or files an eviction case, the law presumes retaliation and the landlord must prove another motive. The protection does not cover owner-occupied buildings with fewer than four units.